One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$0.60 our estimate vs market $35.03
Wall Street consensus: $43.20 (7,085.9% higher than our fair-value estimate)
5728% above our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
Werner Enterprises, Inc.
WERN · NMS · Industrials · Trucking
Current price
$35.03
52-week range
$23.06 - $47.49
Market cap
$2.10B
Balance sheet
Stretched
1.43x Concerning
Net debt $888.77M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 9.3% last year.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 2/10 years.
- Risk Net debt grew 18.0% over 3 years.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 9.8% to 2.6% over 3 years.
What this company does
Werner Enterprises, Inc.
Werner Enterprises is a large transportation company that moves goods for other businesses, such as delivering merchandise to retail stores and food products to grocery distributors. The company earns money by charging fees for these deliveries, using its own large fleet of trucks and also by arranging shipments using other companies' trucks and trains. Because Werner is a key part of the supply chain (the entire journey a product takes from the factory to the consumer), its business performance can offer a glimpse into the health of the broader economy.
How the company got here
Werner Enterprises began in 1956 when C.L. Werner sold the family car to buy a single truck. He started by hauling cargo for other companies and steadily grew the business one truck at a time. A major turning point was moving the company headquarters to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1977 and then taking the company public in 1986, which means they started selling shares of the company to investors. Over the years, Werner expanded its services beyond just long-haul trucking, adding capabilities for temperature-controlled shipping and partnering with railways for intermodal transport (using both trucks and trains to move goods). The company also grew by expanding into Mexico and making strategic acquisitions of other trucking and logistics companies to strengthen its network and services.
What it actually does
Werner is a transportation and logistics company, which means it helps other businesses move their goods from one place to another. You've seen their trucks on the highway; they carry a wide variety of items for well-known retailers and manufacturers, including everyday consumer products, food and beverages, and other merchandise you'd find in a store. They operate a large fleet of their own trucks and trailers, but they also act as a manager, or broker, arranging transportation with other shipping companies. This combination allows them to offer a full range of shipping solutions to their customers across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Truckload Transportation Services (TTS)
This is Werner's largest business segment, making up the majority of its revenue. It involves the core business of moving full truckloads of freight for customers using its own fleet of trucks and drivers. This segment is broken down into two main types of service: 'Dedicated,' where trucks and drivers are assigned to a specific customer for their ongoing needs, and 'One-Way Truckload,' which handles individual shipments from one point to another. Customers, such as large retailers or manufacturers, pay Werner to transport their goods reliably and on time.
Werner Logistics
This part of the company focuses on managing transportation without necessarily using its own trucks, which is why it's called 'asset-light'. It acts more like a travel agent for freight, offering services like brokerage (finding other trucking companies to carry shipments), intermodal (arranging for goods to travel by a combination of truck and train), and final mile delivery (handling the last step of delivery to a home or business). Customers pay for Werner's expertise in managing their supply chain (the entire process of making and selling goods) and finding the most efficient way to move their products. While smaller than the trucking segment, it's a key part of their business, accounting for roughly a quarter of the company's revenue.
What management is betting on now
Werner's leadership is focused on growing its 'Dedicated' business, where they provide trucks and drivers for a specific customer's needs, as this creates more stable and predictable revenue. They are also heavily investing in technology, like automation and artificial intelligence, to make their logistics operations more efficient and reduce costs. Another key priority is expanding their cross-border services, particularly with Mexico, to capitalize on growing trade. Finally, the company continues to focus on driver recruitment and retention, as having skilled and reliable drivers is essential to their entire operation.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Loading price history…
Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$-73.42M
FY2024 Q4
$-9.77M
FY2025 Q1
$5.86M
FY2025 Q2
$-42.32M
FY2025 Q3
$-8.55M
FY2025 Q4
$-23.52M
FY2026 Q1
$30.66M
FY2026 Q2
$54.78M
Revenue
$933.93M
Net income
$6.35M
Diluted EPS
0.11
Operating cash flow
$83.81M
Free cash flow
$54.78M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$808.61M
Net income
$-4.26M
Diluted EPS
-0.07
Operating cash flow
$83.45M
Free cash flow
$30.66M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$737.63M
Net income
$-27.79M
Diluted EPS
-0.46
Operating cash flow
$62.29M
Free cash flow
$-23.52M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$771.50M
Net income
$-20.57M
Diluted EPS
-0.34
Operating cash flow
$44.14M
Free cash flow
$-8.55M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$753.15M
Net income
$44.06M
Diluted EPS
0.72
Operating cash flow
$46.02M
Free cash flow
$-42.32M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$712.11M
Net income
$-10.10M
Diluted EPS
-0.16
Operating cash flow
$29.37M
Free cash flow
$5.86M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$754.68M
Net income
$11.89M
Diluted EPS
0.19
Operating cash flow
$71.03M
Free cash flow
$-9.77M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$745.70M
Net income
$6.57M
Diluted EPS
0.11
Operating cash flow
$61.04M
Free cash flow
$-73.42M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $0.60 vs current price $35.03
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $43.20 (7,085.9% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $0.60 a share — about 98.3% below today's price of $35.03, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $888.8M. Interest coverage 1.4x.
Net debt
$888.77M
Interest coverage
1.43x
Werner Enterprises, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 1.4 times over. and 1 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
WERN
BASELINE
Werner Enterprises, Inc.
Total debt $945.79M Interest coverage 1.43x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $2.69B Interest coverage 1.94x +36% vs WERN Carries about 1.4x more debt cushion than WERN.
Total debt $396.10M Interest coverage 5.00x +249% vs WERN Carries about 3.5x more debt cushion than WERN.
Total debt $459.76M Interest coverage 8.06x +464% vs WERN Carries about 5.6x more debt cushion than WERN.
Total debt $146.40M Interest coverage -5.38x -100% vs WERN This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with WERN.
Total debt $139.10M Interest coverage 46.98x +3,183% vs WERN Carries about 32.8x more debt cushion than WERN.
What you should know
The case for and against WERN
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 9.3% last year.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 2/10 years.
-
Dividend yield is 1.6% with 37-year payout history.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 18.0% over 3 years.
-
Operating margin compressed from 9.8% to 2.6% over 3 years.
-
Return on equity was -3.9% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
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Forward P/E
15.84x
P/B
1.55x
P/S
0.65x
EV/EBITDA
8.93x
PEG ratio
3.83x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
19.0%
Operating margin
2.6%
Net margin
-1.4%
ROE
-3.9%
ROA
0.9%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.68x
Current ratio
1.45x
Quick ratio
1.23x
Total debt
$945.79M
Total cash
$57.02M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$3.25B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
2.1%
EPS TTM
-0.76
EPS 5Y CAGR
—
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$273.69M
Free CF TTM
$-68.53M
FCF margin
-2.1%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
1.6%
Payout ratio
136.6%
Last ex-div date
2026-10-05